Transact tops IFA platform leaderboard

Transact, Standard Life and Elevate have been rated the best platforms by IFAs, according to The Platforum.

The platform consultancy's new leaderboard, reflecting the views of over 850 IFAs rating providers against several criteria, has seen a dramatic shake-up at the top of the table, with Transact knocking Nucleus off the top spot it enjoyed in Q4 2010.

"A combination of financial strength ratings and user feedback has placed Transact, Standard Life then Elevate at the top of the new Platforum Leaderboard," says managing director Holly Mackay.

"It won't be long until this is correlated with AUA and, we suspect that within a year, these three will be next in the pecking order behind the three behemoths, Skandia, Fidelity and Cofunds."

In addition to Transact motoring from third spot in Q4 2010 to pole position in the first quarter of this year, the other big change has seen Standard Life jump from fourth to second place.

With Nucleus grabbing fourth spot, the top four platforms are all wrap outfits. Skandia occupies fifth position - up from eighth in Q4 - whilst Cofunds and FundsNetwork are unchanged from last quarter, taking ninth and tenth spot respectively.

Transact's rise to the top of the leaderboard comes after the platform broke the £10bn AUM figure last week.

In drawing up its new ratings, The Platforum asked IFAs to rate providers against ten different criteria, including quality of customer service, ease of doing business, usefulness of online tools, choice of funds and tax wrappers and value of fees charged.

IFA ratings were also supplemented by independent ratings agency AKG financial strength assessments.

Mackay says the new findings suggest the platforms pushing ahead are those employing a back to basics philosophy.

"The decision to include AKG's financial strength ratings in the Platforum Leaderboard is indicative of what we see as the most important trend surrounding platforms this year - in an uncertain world, it's good to be "boring"," she says. "Our experience of other international markets suggests that this is a natural evolution in a maturing platform market.

"Once all the hoopla dies down about tools and functionality, those using the platform day-in day-out are reminded (sometimes through bad experiences) that at its core, this is nothing other than an administration service facilitating a client's investment portfolio."